Something was off.
Normally, you'd ask the people who were assigned if they were okay with it. I couldn't understand why others were raising their hands in complaint when Geonu and I had agreed.
With a puzzled look, Seowoo smiled slyly. Seeing his eyes curl up, Kang Sihyun blinked his dry blue eyes, finished folding the blanket, and waited for what was to come next.
I thought Haewoon would take the lead in asking what their complaints were, but contrary to expectations, he was silent. The silence stretched on longer than expected, and eventually, Kang Sihyun took it upon himself to ask.
"Why are you complaining?"
Tilting his head inquiringly, Haru, Seowoo, and Hamin shifted their gaze towards him. Hamin cursed with his eyes, seemingly implying, "Can't you even take a hint?"
Why, though...
Just as I was about to ask again, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. My eyes, which had wavered for a moment, caught Hamin, then swept over to Seowoo and tilted towards Haru.
Haru was uncertain, but the other two shared something in common. A foreboding feeling crept up.
Surely not.
Surely it wasn't jealousy or something like that.
"...Surely."
It was both denial and suspicion. Those were the only two syllables I uttered, but if it was Hamin and Seowoo, they would have caught on to my intention. Sure enough, Hamin's eyes deepened. Wondering if the others would start spouting confessions in front of everyone, Kang Sihyun hastily spoke up.
"Then, how would you prefer to sleep?"
Deflecting and avoiding responsibility. To escape an awkward situation, there was nothing quicker than changing the subject. Kang Sihyun asked them for a solution.
There was no need for me to step in and mediate the complaints. Those with complaints should just talk it out and come to a rational conclusion themselves, and all Geonu and I had to do was understand that outcome.
Feeling relieved that we had avoided an awkward atmosphere caused by sudden confessions, Seowoo hummed and gestured towards the three beds lined up with a nod of his head.
"The beds aren't that narrow, so it might be okay to switch around a bit. There might be someone who wants to sleep with you, Kang Sihyun."
He coaxed in a gentle tone, a demeanor he typically assumed when persuasion was in order. It was then that Geonu, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke up.
"I never said I didn't want to sleep with Kang Sihyun."
"......"
"I want to sleep together too, why not."
His voice was calm, which lent an unexpectedly impactful silence.
Why are you stirring things up after keeping quiet?
Kang Sihyun swallowed the complaint that rose to his throat. Among the Class A children, whenever a situation arose, Baek Geonu's role had always been one of three things: to watch quietly, to physically intervene, or to put an end to the situation with a level-headed comment.
That was the norm, but today none of those three applied. Well, he did conclude the situation with a level-headed comment, but it wasn't in a good way.
The other children, unaware that Geonu would say such a thing, glanced at him. Seowoo, who had been observing Geonu with a detached gaze, slowly walked towards Kang Sihyun's bed.
Sitting at the edge of the bed, he hummed a long note. Catching a glimpse of Haewoon's playful expression, Kang Sihyun, amused by the situation, looked back and forth between the cheerful boy and the thoughtful Seowoo, and the others maintaining a subtle tension, then let out a hollow laugh.
"Haha."
"This is crazy."
A brief but more sincere sentiment than ever before. It felt like being caught in the crossfire of a whale fight, becoming a shrimp in the blink of an eye.
The children exchanged glances, and a delicate atmosphere ensued. Worn out by this rare confrontation, Kang Sihyun lay down on the bed.
It's not really my business anyway.
Strictly speaking, it involved me, but that didn't mean I had to get in the middle of it. Deciding to let the four of them figure it out among themselves, Kang Sihyun stared blankly at the ceiling, allowing the comfortable mattress to envelop him.
Maybe I'll sleep just a bit.
The accumulated fatigue was too much to bear, staying awake. Considering it was just one night, was all this debate necessary? As Kang Sihyun pushed away the troubling thoughts, his eyelids grew heavy.
They'll wake me up when they decide.
There was no good in staying awake. Haven't I experienced enough already?
In such situations, if I was awake, the children would surely stop their discussion
, turn to me, and ask, "So, who do you want to sleep with?" It was nothing more than shifting the responsibility.
Wanting to avoid that scenario, Kang Sihyun comfortably positioned himself and surrendered to the approaching drowsiness.
Consciousness faded in and out.
The children's voices ebbed and flowed, then dimmed.
Fade to black.
***
Slowly. Heavy eyelids lifted. The sleep wasn't refreshing enough to feel revitalized, leaving a lingering grogginess. Kang Sihyun frowned, gathering his senses and looking around.
The room was filled with a soft blue glow. It wasn't complete dawn yet, but the scenery suggested it was about an hour before sunrise.
Fumbling around, his hand crawled over the bed, searching for his phone. Click, the screen lit up, emitting a brightness that was hard to adjust to immediately. Kang Sihyun grimaced, managing to squint and secure a narrow field of vision.
5:40 AM.
Habits are terrifying. I fell asleep past 4 AM, yet my body woke up reflexively at the usual time. It was absurd, considering I had planned to "rest my eyes" for a bit, and somehow, that turned into 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Since when did "a bit" amount to that long?
It seemed like I had asked to be woken up once everything was decided before falling asleep, but nobody woke me. I couldn't tell if I hadn't heard them or if the kids had decided not to wake me out of consideration. As Kang Sihyun thought it over, he decided it wasn't important and checked his bed.
There was a subtly cramped feeling to the bed, and sure enough, another figure was lying beside me. The pre-dawn light, now a bit brighter than before, allowed me to see the face of the person next to me.
Yoo Seowoo.
So, after all the arguments, he was the winner. Just by looking at his face, I could imagine the kind of logic he must have spun to claim this spot.
Hamin and Geonu usually shared a room, and Haru had joined the battle against Caris. Using reasons like these, he must have claimed this spot by arguing he had seen me the least.
Even without witnessing it firsthand, I could vividly imagine Yoo Seowoo convincingly overcoming the others with his smooth rhetoric. Having watched it for so long, my predictions had become almost like second nature.
He's such an easy guy to read.
Yoo Seowoo's motives when dealing with others were easy to decipher. Yet, when he directly faced and conversed with me, why did it become so hard to read his ulterior motives, as if dealing with a three-headed snake?
While observing the peacefully sleeping figure, Kang Sihyun moved to change his position, intending to roll to the other side when he felt a slight restraint around his waist.
That's when he realized.
Yoo Seowoo's arms were wrapped around his waist.
The faint weight I had been feeling turned out to be him holding me as he slept.
Panic momentarily flashed in my eyes. Should I push his hands away and wake him, or should I overlook it just this once, considering he must be tired too, and just let it slide? My expression soured.
If it had been Haru or Hamin, I might have thought it was just a sleeping habit, but with Yoo Seowoo, it was hard to tell if it was intentional. If it was him, it wouldn't be strange for him to embrace me as a sleeping habit excuse.
"Ugh..."
After much deliberation, a gruff sound escaped me. Deciding not to wake him and to let it slide just this once, Kang Sihyun lay back down properly. It was a bit later when the platinum-haired boy let out a low moan.
"Mm..."
A petulant sound. The quality blanket rustled, and the mattress slightly tilted as the boy's head rested against my side. Despite his size, he nearly slipped under the bed, clinging to me like a lifeline.
It was uncomfortable, but I couldn't just push him away.
If he had maliciously drawn me in, I would have pushed him straight under the bed, but if, just if, he had clung to me in a moment of seeking someone to rely on unconsciously, then I couldn't just push him away.
A slight sense of responsibility and a trickle of sympathy welled up.
"What grand riches am I enjoying that I'm bestowing sympathy like this..."
"..."
"Did I betray my country in a past life?"
I gazed at Seowoo, who had settled into sleep. His toes were sticking out from under the bed, and I wanted to cover them up, but I hesitated, thinking it might wake him. While I was hesitating, the grip around my waist tightened.
He hugged my waist a bit tighter and then lazily rubbed his head against it. Irritated by the unexpected intimacy, Kang Sihyun's gaze sharpened.
Wondering if he was playing at sleeping to sneak in some cuddles, I narrowed my eyes and watched, but after 5 minutes, then 10, the boy showed no further movement.
Finding nothing to prove my suspicions, I stared emptily at the ceiling. The ceiling's patterns seemed unfamiliar, perhaps due to the weight on my abdomen or the slight warmth. Memories of spending the summer at Yoo Seowoo's house surfaced unbidden, and Kang Sihyun chuckled softly, reminiscing about a time when the relationship with Yoo Seowoo wasn't as good as now, but the world was still intact.
A time when people weren't dying off and alarms weren't sounding constantly.
A time when overcoming trauma was the most important thing.
It seemed a bit more peaceful and better back then.
Now, the burden on my shoulders felt too heavy.
Sighing deeply, Kang Sihyun turned to look at the other beds.
Wondering whether they had gotten close through bickering, Haru and Hamin were sharing a bed, and next to them, Geonu, almost squashed by Haewoon, grunted in his sleep.
They all seemed a bit irritated, but the atmosphere
was still comfortable. It was a semblance of normalcy preserved amidst the crumbling peace.
Quietly observing the kids, Kang Sihyun took in the blue dawn sky and felt the drowsiness return as he turned to lie on his side.
Facing Seowoo, he closed his eyes. The battle against Caris flickered through his mind.
In the end, we were all still young.
Gathered here were people whose average age was barely 20, facing a disaster. Kang Sihyun exhaled, thinking of Haehyuk, who had seemed endlessly composed even in battle, and reconsidered the ages of those lying next to him.
"...Even if it becomes a bit more burdensome, I guess I'll have to do it."
A whisper barely audible escaped him.
What if it's a bit burdensome?
After all, there are things worth protecting.
What was once called foolishness had now settled into courage and responsibility. Kang Sihyun humbly accepted these feelings.
Pulling the blanket up, he tried to fall asleep again.
The blanket, ample enough for one, snugly wrapped around the two boys.
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